Material Value

The new Tweed de Chanel line weaves precious stones, meticulous craftsmanship and rich heritage together in an impressive collection

-  Jacqueline Tsang

As with all good stories, this one begins with a love affair. Gabrielle Chanel met the Duke of Westminster in the mid-1920s, amid the vast, wild hills and valleys of the Scottish countryside. Chanel, however, was not sartorially equipped for the punishing landscape and weather, and had to borrow the duke's tweed jackets for the couple's outdoor excursions. One love affair became two, and Chanel adapted the warm, woolly fabric with its distinctive weave for her fashion collections.

The eponymous maison holds that Chanel was the first fashion designer to take on tweed, conventionally used only in menswear, and interpret it into clothing for women who shared her interests: travelling, driving and outdoor sports. Tweed became one of the key style codes in the brand's fashion collections, instantly recognisable for its irregular colours, intricate pattern and versatile design.

Fast-forward a century, and Patrice Leguéreau, director of the brand's fine jewellery studio, has deepened the impact and success of the Tweed de Chanel line first launched in 2020 with 45 jewellery pieces.

"Ever since I joined Chanel in 2009, I have been fascinated by tweed. One of the first people I met was François Lesage, and I remember him showing me his archives of embroidery and tweed. I was immediately drawn to this material and its history. While jewellery has often drawn on the codes of couture, it is exceptional for a fabric to serve as the point of departure for a jewellery collection," he says. "The first collection was an introduction. I wanted to present this fabric that was so central to the Chanel universe, and which became the inspiration for a jewellery collection for the first time. It was a question of laying the foundations, almost literally."